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Cree and Miller Win Town - Legislature Seat Uncertain |
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 06 November 2009 |
EXTRA - 8 VOTE SPREAD
Monday, November 9 - The spread is eight votes in favor of Pat Pryor after 79 absentee ballots were counted Monday morning. With 23 ballots still out (13 absentee ballots must be in tomorrow's mail to count, and 10 military ballots must be received by October 16), the District 6 County Legislator seat is still up for grabs. Pryor's lead was 23 votes before today's count. Three absentee ballots were challenged by Pryor's camp. They may or not be counted in the final talley next week. As of today the count is 742 for Pryor and 734 for Mike Sigler.  1765 Lansing voters went to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes for two Town Board seats, County Legislator, Town Justice, and District Attorney. Of the contested seats Robert Cree and Kathy Miller won the Town Board positions. While Pat Pryor won incumbent Mike Sigler's County Legislator seat by 23 votes in the initial vote count, the winner has yet to be determined because there are more than 23 absentee ballots that have yet to be counted.
Elections Commissioner Elizabeth Cree says that the Board Of Elections received 80 absentee ballots that will affect the outcome of the Pryor/Sigler race. Those votes will be counted Monday morning. (Check back later -- the Lansing Star will publish the results as soon as possible.)
By Tuesday night the vote was 710 for Pryor, and 687 for Sigler. With 908 votes for Robert Cree and 899 for Kathy Miller, the next candidate would have needed at least 820 voting machine votes to unseat the top vote getters. James Mason received 796 votes and Douglas McEver 661.
Turnout averaged 26.19% at the Lansing polls, but it was lowest in the Village of Lansing. Only 9.94% of voters in District 7 (the eastern side of the Village) turned out, while those on the Western side did better at 22.41%. The greatest turnout was in District 1, which goes along the lake from the Drake Road area to slightly north of Sweazey Road, and on the east side goes north almost to Searles Road. That district had a 34.33% turnout. Districts 2 and 4 were the only other two that topped 30%.
Election inspectors in North Lansing
Miller had the most votes in Districts 1 and 3, more or less a strip that follows Route 34B. Cree carried districts 2, 4, 5, and 8. Mason carried Districts 7 and 8 in the Village of Lansing. Justice William Burin received 1055 uncontested votes. County District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson also ran uncontested. 1028 Lansing votes factored into the 7977 county-wide votes she received.
As far as Lansing is concerned, the outcome is sure, except for Sigler's Legislature seat. With 80 ballots yet to be counted Pryor's 23 vote lead is not enough to assure a win. Typically candidates and their attorneys attend the absentee ballot count at the Tompkins County Board of Elections in downtown Ithaca. Commissioners Cree and Stephen Dewitt sit at the end of a long conference table with piles of envelopes sorted by voting district for each town in the county. Envelopes are passed around the table for inspection and are frequently challenged by candidates or their attorneys. Those that pass the first cut are opened, then passed around again to insure all parties agree the vote is legal. Finally the ballots that have been accepted are counted and added to the voting machine tallies to determine the winner.
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